Les Miles has been hired as Kansas’ next head football coach, the school announced Sunday.
“Since the beginning of our search, we focused on identifying and recruiting an experienced head coach with a strong track record of success on and off the field,” athletic director Jeff Long said in a statement. “Les Miles is exactly what we need for our program right now. His national reputation as a great recruiter and as a coach who student-athletes love playing for will enable us to break the cycle and return a winning tradition to the Kansas Jayhawks. We are thrilled to have Les and his family as Jayhawks.”
Miles will receive a five-year contract that will pay him $2.775 million per year, with additional retention bonuses due in November 2020 and November 2022.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to lead the KU football program and I am grateful to Chancellor (Douglas A.) Girod and Jeff Long for the opportunity,” Miles said in a statement. “We will bring Jayhawk Football back and we will do it with outstanding coaches, tremendous student-athletes of character and ability and an unrelenting drive for excellence. My family and I cannot wait to be a part of the KU family!”
Miles, who hasn’t coached since being fired by LSU in September 2016, will replace David Beaty, who was informed earlier this month that he would not return as head coach after this season.
Kansas athletic director Jeff Long and Miles know each other from their time at Michigan in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Long also tried to hire Miles when he was the AD at Arkansas.
Miles, who turned 65 on Nov. 10, is 141-55 in 15-plus seasons at LSU and Oklahoma State.
Kansas also spoke with Los Angeles Rams assistant Jedd Fisch and former Arizona State, Pitt, Tulsa and Rice coach Todd Graham about the job, according to a source.
Beaty, who agreed to finish out the season, is 6-31 with the Jayhawks, who are 3-8 this season after putting up a fight but ultimately falling to No. 6 Oklahoma 55-40 on Saturday night.
The Jayhawks haven’t had a winning season or reached a bowl game since 2008, their penultimate season under Mark Mangino. After he was forced out, the school churned through Turner Gill and Charlie Weis before hiring Beaty, a nondescript assistant with ties to the program.
On Thursday, LSU announced it had reached a settlement with Miles for a one-time, lump-sum payment of $1.5 million on his remaining guarantee from the school. He still had been owed $6.5 million in guaranteed salary after being fired.
At the time of his dismissal, Miles was owed about $9 million, to be paid in monthly installments until 2023. But Thursday’s agreement absolves LSU of any remaining salary owed to Miles, who coached the Tigers from 2005 to 2016 and went 114-34.